Working Paper No.10 of 2003 on Costs and Benefits of Eliminating Child Labour in Kenya

Abstract

The International Labour Organization approximates that about 250 million children worldwide are involved in child labour, with most children working under harmful conditions; that is in circumstances that are detrimental to their physical, moral, and intellectual development. In Kenya, it is estimated that 2.3 million children (29%) of the 7.9 million children aged 6-14 years in 1999 did not attend school (GoK, 2001b) while 1.2 million children in the same age group were involved in child labour. The working children are employed in the tourism and service sectors, plantations, manufacturing, domestic services and in urban informal sector occupations. They are at risk from commercial sex exploitation, hazardous chemicals, physical injuries and sexual and psycho-social abuse. The number of Nairobi's street children, for example, is more than 50,000 and these children are often involved in theft, drug trafficking, assault, trespass, and property damage (Globalmarch, 2001). The Kenya Government is committed to eliminating child labour and such commitments are stated in various Government policy documents, national legislations, international conventions protecting children, and the UN charter on the rights of children which was adopted by the UN Assembly in 1989 and to which Kenya is a signatory. Despite these committments, child labour still persists and is prevalent in the country. Various policy measures have been developed to address the problem of child labour and these recognize child labour as being particularly harmful to Kenya's long-term development and to its industrialization prospects in terms of lowered long-term productivity. The main causes of child labour in Kenya include family violence, HIV/ AIDS pandemic, a declining economy, and rapid rural-to-urban migration. Others are the declining gross primary school enrolment rate, intra-ethnic violence, cattle rustling, banditry and severe poverty in some regions of the country...